In the closest example on film how a Broadway musical might have looked in 1938, "College Swing" is a swingin' delight from start to finish, starting off with a flashback to 1738 where the ancestors of Alden College deal with Gracie's look-alike predecessor in the art of idiocy. Her grandfather informs the master of the little wooden schoolhouse that should no female member of the Alden family graduate in 200 years, the family fortune will be given to the college. Fast forward to the present day, and Gracie is being tutored by Bob Hope who has a bit of chicanery to get his hands on a handsome fee, ultimately making Gracie "Dean of Men" and bringing in her own staff to, as she says, revolutionize the college industry, or maybe even get rid of colleges altogether.
A superb cast of comics and musical talent explode on screen, including Edward Everett Horton (as the original school master and his descendant, a girl-shy alumnus who creates the test for Gracie to take), George Burns as his acid tongued assistant, Martha Raye as a "romance teacher" with a fake French accent, and Cecil Cunningham as the dean of women, plus cameos by diminutive Ben Blue (as the new phys-ed instructor) and Jerry Colonna as the Air-Raid sound-alike music professor.
A young love story isn't as interesting as the comedy, but their love song ("What did Romeo say to Juliet?") is sweet and amusingly staged. Raye and Hope go wild with "How'd you like to Love Me?" while Allen shows off a fine light voice singing "You're a Natural" to the reluctant Horton. The highlight, however, is the title song, lead by a young Betty Grable who has stardom written all over her.
A superb cast of comics and musical talent explode on screen, including Edward Everett Horton (as the original school master and his descendant, a girl-shy alumnus who creates the test for Gracie to take), George Burns as his acid tongued assistant, Martha Raye as a "romance teacher" with a fake French accent, and Cecil Cunningham as the dean of women, plus cameos by diminutive Ben Blue (as the new phys-ed instructor) and Jerry Colonna as the Air-Raid sound-alike music professor.
A young love story isn't as interesting as the comedy, but their love song ("What did Romeo say to Juliet?") is sweet and amusingly staged. Raye and Hope go wild with "How'd you like to Love Me?" while Allen shows off a fine light voice singing "You're a Natural" to the reluctant Horton. The highlight, however, is the title song, lead by a young Betty Grable who has stardom written all over her.